Gravity
by Always Keep the Faith
Summary: Before Higurashi Kagome was pulled down the well into Sengoku Jidai,she had a very interesting companion named Kiba. Rating may or may not be raised later.
1. The Birth

A/n: This is a InuyashaXWolf's Rain crossover fanfic. Click the back button or continue reading at your own discretion.

A/n: Yeah, I posted this 1st chapter once already under the name PowerfulMind. I'm just going to continue this story now under this account name.

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Chapter 1: The Birth

She didn't come today. She didn't come yesterday. She didn't come the day before or even this week. I didn't see her this month, or last month, or the month before. How foolish was I. It was unwise for me to let her near me. I was foolish to think I could trust a human. I was foolish to believe that she could be my paradise.

_~Some months prior~_

"Don't run off too far Kagome-chan!" yelled a dark-haired woman walking through the woods holding the hand of a little boy. A young girl raised up her hand to acknowledge what her mother shouted, although the girl continued to run through the miniature,dark forest anyway. The black-haired girl wove pass the many trees and hopped over jutting roots. Eventually, she slowed to a stop and started panting, trying to get her heart rate back to normal. She was bent over with her hands on her knees, but as she straightened, a small smile spread on her face. She looked around for a moment and then started walking to each tree, fingers delicately brushing against the cool, rough bark.

She paused briefly at each tree, feeling the surface with nimble digits. Eyes lighted as her fingers brushed against a particular trunk of a tree. After finding the mark carved into the side she walked towards the direction in which the mark, an arrow, pointed, only to find another tree with another arrow carved into its side. Her crude but effective directions that she made herself eventually led her to her desired destination: an old ginkgo tree. The trunk had to be more than 3 meters wide and as she gazed upwards, she guessed it was at least 30 meters in height. That was bigger than the tree in the courtyard by her house, and she thought the Goshinboku was big. As she approached the tree she wondered at the sight before her. Even though this was not the first time she has seen the aerial roots that shot down from the branches and limbs of the tree to dangle or plant themselves in the ground, she still marveled at them. She came up to the tree and firmly grasped one of the dangling roots in her hands and gave it a hard tug. She even lifted herself off the ground as if she were hanging from a rope, testing if the root could hold her weight. Satisfied that she would not have a nasty unwanted fall, she started to climb the rope, occasionally using other hanging roots for her aid and even putting her feet against the trunk and walking up the tree when she could.

If she ever told her friends at school that she climbed trees, they would never believe her. They thought she was not the most physically fit person around. But she could not blame them. She knew she was athletically challenged. Anything that involved a ball was her downfall. Running was not her strong point either. The young girl reached the first tree limb and struggled to hoist herself up and sit on the limb. She grinned widely. She herself would never have believed she could climb the tree if she had not sat on this limb and gazed down passed the hanging roots to the inviting ground. Inviting because she was the type of person who normally liked to keep both feet firmly planted on the ground, but today was the perfect day to forget about her comfort zone and witness the sight she was waiting for weeks to see. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to compose herself, something she had to do if she did not want a wave of panic to hit her right out of the tree. "Alright!"

Opening her eyes, she nearly let out a girly squeal. "Right on time....," she whispered to no one.

In front of her, sat a small nest of twigs, vines, and leaves, all woven together to hold two white, speckled eggs. She watched intently as a crack formed in one of the eggs. A small beak poked through. It chipped away at some of the shell that had been protecting the developing bird. With strength that would hopefully only get stronger, the chick pushed against the shell until it's whole head was free. It wiggled and struggled to rid himself of the confining shell. "Come on birdy-chan! Your can do it! Just a little more....," coaxed the girl in a soft, quiet voice.

The girl jumped slightly when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and smiled, "Tori-san! You're here!" The little brown bird tilted its small head to the side, then hopped off the human girl's shoulder to perch on the side of the nest. The girl looked up to see a brighter colored bird circling overhead, "Hi Bird-san! You're going to be a father now!" She looked back to the nest when she heard loud high-pitched chirps. The shell had been discarded and the mother bird that the girl had been so "cleverly" named Tori-san was feeding its newborn. Then the mother settled itself to keep its hungry baby warm. The bird, so "originally" named Bird-san, that was circling overhead disappeared to dig up grubs and other insects.

"Kagome-chan!" the girl barely heard her mother shout.

"I have to go now Tori-san. Tell Bird-san I said 'bye'. Bye Birdy-chan!" The girl quickly said to the bird in the nest that seemed to ignore the human. The girl grabbed onto a few roots and shimmied down the tree as quickly as she was capable of. She then sprinted off to reunite with her worried mother.

About 15-20 minutes later, the girl named Kagome pushed past a particularly heavy large leaf to arrive at the end of the trail leading out of the woods. "Mou.....Kagome-chan, you're all scratched up and dirty now. What can I say to convince you to take the clear path through the woods and not the long way going through who knows what," said the woman holding onto the little boy's hand.

"Yeah, nee-chan, you took forever...," the short, black-haired boy scolded his big sister.

Kagome stuck her tongue out at the boy and acted like she completely did not hear her mother's words, "Hey! Guess what Oka-san! I saw a bird hatch today! It was so cool! You should've seen it First the shell cracked. Then the beak poked out. And then....."

"Hai...hai.....," the mother sighed exasperatedly. "Let's head home now." The small family quieted and started walking until they came to an intimidating number of white steps that led up the the Sunset Shrine where they lived.

"Oka-san, I think I know what I want for my birthday. I want an elevator," Kagome said as she stared at the steps.

"Now now Kagome-chan. If you could run around the woods by yourself all day with no problem, you could handle a few steps."

'A few....?' Kagome sighed and started up the steps behind her mother and little brother.

She went down these same steps the next day as she rushed off to school. "No!!! I'm late!"

Taking the dirt and gravel path through the woods that her mother and brother walked on the day before, she ran as fast as she could without completely depleting her stamina to make it to school before the loud ear-splitting bell sounds to signal the start of another day of keeping young minds from freedom.

Kagome skidded to a halt in front of her shoe locker and practically threw her outside tennis shoes into the square space after snatching up her clean, white indoor shoes. She took off with the shoes in her hand towards the stairs. "I hate stairs. I hate stairs. I hate stairs....," she huffed as she scaled three flights of stairs while attempting to slip on her shoes and not fall at the same time. Kagome sprinted to her homeroom, slid the sliding door open, slammed it hard behind her, ran to her seat at the far end of the classroom, and stumbled into it just as the door opened again to reveal a petite, middle-aged woman with thinning hair carrying a briefcase.

"Quiet you hooligans! This is the start of the winter semester. It's time to crack down and study hard so you could pass this year and come back in the spring with only a year left until you're out of this dump and off to high school. Damn high school gets all the federal funding.....," the woman muttered. "Now for homeroom announcements given by your homeroom representative...."

While a soft spoken girl with glasses announced seemingly important things related to school and club activities, Kagome worked on getting her heart rate back to normal. After the representative was done talking, the students collectively rummaged under their desks for their textbooks. Bada-sensei started her lecture right away, "Last semester you learned ancient history up through the 21st century. Before we get into more modern history, we've been doing brief overviews of the time periods. I believe the next one is Sengoku jidai. As we know, this period roughly covers the 15th century up through the beginning of the 17th century. It was filled with social upheavals as government became less centralized and...."

Kagome hated history. She got enough of it at home. Though, it was a different sort of history. While she learned of this country's history at school, at home, her grandfather pounded the history of mythical demons, magic, and other nonsense. Even though sometimes it was interesting because of the impossible nature of his stories, Kagome mostly spent her lessons staring at the gray sky.

"Higurashi-san! Care to repeat what I just said?" Bada-sensei's voice cut through Kagome's cloudy thoughts. She stood up from her seat quickly and looked flustered for being caught not paying attention.

"Um....," her brain scrambled to come up with an answer. BEEEEEPP. Kagome sighed in relief as the bell sounded, signalling the end of history class.

"Lucky you Higurashi-san," Bada-sensei packed up her briefcase and walked out of the classroom. Students around Kagome started putting their books away. Some left to attend to club responsibilities while others stayed and took out lunch boxes. Kagome let out another sigh and melted back into her seat. She smiled slightly as a girl with black shoulder-length hair and a pale yellow headband walked up to her. "Did you oversleep again, Kagome-chan?" Kagome looked a little sheepish.

"Leave her alone Eri. Kagome, what's the matter? I know you hate history but you should know better than to daydream during Bada-sensei's lesson. She already hates us. Don't give her a reason to hate you extra," advised a girl with brown hair cropped to her ears.

"I know Yuka.... But it's sooo boring!" Kagome whined as she unwrapped the cloth covering her bento box. She took out a fork and speared some thick noodles. She scowled at the offending tool. "I still hate these things. Chopsticks are so much easier to use."

"You're the only one who thinks so, Kagome," an amused Eri said.

"It's normal to think that way since you use them all the time at home. I use them sometimes too," said Ayumi as she walked over with her lunch that she purchased from the cafeteria.

"You two are behind the times," replied Eri. "Only REALLY old people nowadays use chopsticks. They even stopped selling them in stores except for decoration."

"Whatever, Eri," said Ayumi. Kagome smiled. She liked all three of her friends, but if she had to choose one to be stuck on a desert island with, it would be Ayumi, even if she was a studyholic. "We better get cleaned up, girls. It's almost time for class again."

After school, Kagome waved goodbye to her friends as they parted from the gate in front of the school building. "Maybe I'll stop by to see Birdy-chan today." She never told her friends about her childish behavior in the woods. Even if they were her friends, they would probably say climbing trees and squealing at a chick hatching was immature. Well, Kagome _was_ only fourteen years old. She had another few months until she would act mature in private as well as in public. Kagome swore that people these days were getting older younger, if that made sense. She didn't even wear any makeup yet, but she has spotted foundation, eyeshadow, and lip gloss on twelve year olds! Kagome pondered as she strolled towards the woods on her way home. She imagined that she would surely be late everyday if she had to spend time in the mornings applying makeup.

She ceased her trivial thoughts as she began picking her way through the shrubbery, repeating her actions from the day before to arrive at her tree. She set down her backpack and started the dangerous climb up. For over half an hour, she just watched as the baby bird ate, slept, and snuggled. The mother bird, Tori-san as Kagome called her, eyed Kagome for a while before taking a chance and flying off to look for some grubs to fill her empty stomach.

The little bird born just yesterday took up the opportunity right away. Following the concept of survival of the fittest, Birdy-chan started nudging the other speckled egg towards the edge of the nest. Kagome, who had been staring off towards the direction in which the older bird flew, didn't notice anything until it was too late. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, Kagome looked back at the nest, only to have her eyes widen in surprise and horror. The fragile egg teeter tottered on the edge of the nest until finally the baby bird gave it one final push to eliminate its future competition. The egg tumbled over and was pulled towards the ground. Panicking, Kagome reached towards the egg that was clearly too far away. She yelped as she slipped off the branch and tumbled after the doomed egg. 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' Kagome clawed the air for anything that would slow the fall. She got her wish as thin branches cracked underneath her to slow her descent. Kagome landed with a thud just centimeters away from the trunk of the tree. Somehow, in her tumble, the branches must have caused her fall to not be a straight down to the ground fall as she had landed on the other side of the 3 meter wide trunk, the side she rarely payed any attention to. There wasn't a bird's nest above that side of the tree. She groaned and tested her limbs. She sat up and sorely rubbed her back. "Ow...," mumbled the unfortunate girl.

She pulled the twigs from her hair and smoothed it while looking around. Gasping, she crawled over to the splattered egg. However, that's not what got her attention. Right behind the cracked open egg lay a pile of white fur. As she crawled closer, she snatched up a stick and used it to poke at the form. It didn't move. She poked harder. It still didn't move. She slowly stood and inched towards the limp form. Leaning over the white mass of fur. She saw a pitch black nose and a thin line a black lips. "A dog?!" She slowly reached out with her hand. Hesitating, she pulled her hand back a little, then continued to reach forward. Her hand felt the top of cold fur. She pulled her hand back and stared hard at the motionless dog. "It's dead....," she concluded. She set hands down beside the dog to aid in pushing her into a standing position. After straightening, her eyes dilated as she stared at her hands. Cold, drying red liquid coated her hands. There was also some crusty, brick brown dust, dried blood, that fell from her palm. She didn't like blood. It made her slightly squeamish, but she could look at it. However, having the blood on her hands freaked her out. Images of fire, sandstorms, floods, and any other disaster imaginable flitted across her mind as she stared at her blood covered hands. She felt panicked, scared, and sad at the same time. Thus, she did the only thing that her mind could process. Kagome bolted.

Forgetting her belongings, forgetting the bird, the nest, or the egg, Kagome ran all the way home. Her green sailor uniform offered no protection as it tore from branches catching in the fabric. She stumbled up the shrine steps, all the while shouting, "Oka-san!" Her family found her panting heavily at the front door. Cuts marred the pale skin of her arms and legs, and, somehow, she lost a shoe. The scared girl's face had a few shallow, scratches and tears dripped down her cheeks.

The mother ushered the crying girl inside and steered her to the kitchen. Making shushing noises to her whimpering daughter, the mother ran water over Kagome's bloody hands while searching for a rag to wipe her minor wounds.

"Oka-san! I was just watching the bird! And then it fell! And then I fell! Then the dog! And the blood! And I ran!"

The mother exchanged worried looks with Kagome's short grandfather. They were worried about the incomprehensible nonsense Kagome was mumbling.

"Sweetie, Kagome-chan, did a dog attack you?" questioned her mother.

"No!" Kagome exclaimed. "But! But! I think it's dead...in the woods...."

Kagome sniffled and cleared away the tears. She didn't know why she was crying. It was just a dead chick. It was just a dead dog. It was just a few cuts on her body. But when she saw the blood on her hands.... Yes, she did panic, but she felt a deep sadness for the death of the dog at the same time. Deep down, her heart ached at the realization of its horrible, painful death.

She was gently shaken from her sad thoughts as her mother rubbed her back, "Kagome-chan, don't go near the dog again okay. Ojii-san will call someone tomorrow to pick it up and dispose of the body."

"Dispose of the body? Are they going to give the dog a proper burial? They won't just put it in a plastic bag and throw it away will they?" Kagome panicked. She was genuinely worried.

"Don't worry about that, Kagome-chan. You live on a shrine. You could pray for the dog's poor soul to find peace," the old man assured the worried girl.

"But its body!" If there was anything Kagome learned about while living at a shrine and taking forced lessons by her Ojii-san, it was to respect the dead. "The government won't give the dog's body proper respect!"

"Kagome-chan, calm down. This is all we can do. Just promise me you'll stay away from the inner woods for a while. Something must have hurt the dog for it to bleed to death. I don't want my baby girl to get hurt too"

Kagome deflated after hearing the concerned voice of her mother and the worried, maybe even scared, taint in the eyes of her Oka-san and Ojii-san. Souta stood awkwardly off to the side, slightly confused and worried but relieved to find his dear sister home.

Later, Kagome settled into bed and rolled onto her side to face the window and gaze towards the new moon. She brought one hand up towards the moon and looked at it as the moon's light put a spotlight on the appendage. While imagining her hand bathed in the dog's blood, Kagome resolved to give the dog a proper burial tomorrow. No, she refused to let the dirty government touch the deceased animal.

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A/n: It's a little boring right now. Hopefully, it'll get better. ^^ Read and review. Those are great sources of motivation.


	2. A Dog from the Grave

A/n: I'm not dead. I updated! And only after....one year? I'll try harder next time. Sorry. T_T

A/n: ugh...It took so long to PM/email all of my readers to inform you guys of the change in account....

A/n: This chapter is kind of all over the place. I could have probably made it more than one chapter. However, I hate reading short chapters and so won't make anyone else read short chapters. Tell me if I have any spelling errors. My skimming was the proofreading. I kinda rushed this.

Chapter 2: A Dog from the Grave

The tired and troubled girl shifted underneath the warm covers one last time before giving up completely, "I can't sleep....." She reached over to her nightstand and dragged the cat shaped clock to her face. Determining that it most definitely was too early, Kagome groaned before sitting up. Her limbs mechanically went about her daily routine--collecting her school clothes, walking to the bathroom, brushing her teeth, showering, drying, dressing, etc--while her detached mind wandered to dwell on the events of the day before.

Did her grandfather already contact animal control, or whoever, to pick up the corpse? Hopefully not yet. She really wanted to go visit the dog again. She looked at herself in the mirror and traced a small cut on her cheek. Kagome felt like something was weighing down her heart. Maybe it was regret. Yes, the icky feeling that was coating her heart, soul, and conscience was regret. She stared sadly into the chocolate eyes of her reflection. The poor white dog most likely passed away while all alone. Then, when someone finally found its body so that the animal's spirit could rest in peace, that someone, Higurashi Kagome, freaked out and may have erased all hopes of peace for the animal.

Alright, so most animals did die alone anyway. Mourning death and having ceremonies for such things was exclusively a human experience as far as she knew. Kagome firmly believed that everything happened for a reason, and sometimes (most of the time) those reasons were beyond human understanding. In her frazzled mind, Kagome thought that stumbling upon the dead animal must mean she was supposed to help it.

She glanced at the clock to see how much time she had to spare before the warning bell of school would sound. She never experienced burying anything bigger than her pet rock when she was four and even that took her a while to do, so she didn't know how long it would take to bury and perform a prayer for such a big animal. Maybe she would go after school. That would be the best option. Maybe she could weasel her way out of the drama club activities. That'd be perfect. Kagome would have an excuse of why she would be home so late. Extracurricular activities took forever anyway.

Seeing that she had a least two hours before the start of school, Kagome scavenged for leftovers in her refrigerator. She'd do her mother a favor and make her own lunch today. The young schoolgirl was a bit guilty that she was lying about going to drama club today and breaking her promise to not go into the woods again. Kagome made a silent oath to drag herself out of bed early for the next few weeks and make her own food and lunch, maybe making her other family members breakfast too.

Taking out a plastic bento box from the cabinet, she started stuffing a volume of food into the limited space. It was amazing how much food could be packed into such a small-seeming box. She packed in pork friend rice with last night's sauteed vegetables and pork chops. She also stuck in some leftover fried fish and a whole boiled egg. She stared at the box that was filled to the brim. It would suffice. Glancing at the clock again, she saw she still had an hour and forty-five minutes left. It took twenty to thirty minutes to speed walk to school.

It was a little unusual to eat for breakfast but she quickly made her family a couple neat looking onigiri stuffed with umeboshi, pickled plums. She left them in the fridge. Her mother didn't have work today, so she was not awake yet. Sota did not need to awaken for another hour. Her grandfather was a late riser anyway. So, Kagome slipped on her black shoes, shouldered her brown backpack, and exited the sleeping house without much noise.

The next few hours were outwardly routine.

"The Tokugawa era and the edo era…1600s through the mid 1800s...," the professor drawled on.

Kagome paid less attention than she normally did. Her thoughts strayed to the miniature forest in the distance. Behind Kagome, Eri sat and shared worried looks with Yuka, who sat to Kagome's right. Kagome barely made it into the classroom for homeroom again that morning, so her friends did not have time to throw questions at Kagome about the numerous scratches marring her pale skin. Ayumi, being the nerd of the group, sat at the front of the class and so could not look back in concern without being scolded. However, she was only using half her attention towards note taking.

The sound of the chalk being put down accompanied the lunch break bell. Immediately, Kagome was forcefully snapped out of her thoughts when three girls swarmed her desk. Ayumi tapped the corner of her spiral notebook onto Kagome's desk and asked the sitting girl, "So what happened?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked nervously.

"What do you mean 'what do you mean?'?! Did you look in the mirror today? Your all scratched up!" shouted Eri. To Kagome's relief, the room was mostly empty.

"Oh that...I...tripped and fell?"

They all gave her serious looks.

"Okay okay... I was playing in the woods yesterday after school. Realized I was late and didn't want my mom to worry. So I ran through the woods and got scratched up by branches. No biggie." It was partly true...

Her friends weren't sure whether to believe Kagome or not. It kind of sounded like what Kagome would do. At least, when she was younger.

Ayumi was still giving Kagome "the look".

Kagome felt uncomfortable but put on a cheery voice, "Hey, guess what! I think I might go for the Juliet role for the club's play."

Eri and Yuka immediately squealed. Ayumi let the previous subject drop but decided to keep an observant eye on her friend just in case. For Kagome's protection.

"Oh my god! Finally! Higurashi Kagome on stage!" Eri got starry eyed.

"So why the change of heart all of a sudden?" questioned Yuka. Kagome, with her two years of drama club, had never ever acted in any production. She always just helped out: costumes, directing, props, odd jobs, etc. The club president had always begged Kagome to audition for a role. Kagome was good. That girl could act, but Kagome never showed off her acting. The only reason why club members knew she could act was because Kagome sometimes helped people run through scenes and practice lines. This year's club president, Asuka-san, had been begging Kagome to play the role of Juliet in Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" for a month. The current person cast for the role of Juliet was okay, but this was Kagome's last year in junior high and this was probably going to be the drama club's biggest production of the year. Asuka wanted Kagome to play the role.

'Why the change of heart?' Kagome thought. 'Because I wanted you to change the subject.' "Well, I guess I wanted to make this school year memorable."

Running steps were heard getting louder and louder. Suddenly, a panting student banged opened the classroom door. "D-did....I...hear right...?" The girl took deep breaths. "Kagome-san...will play Juliet?"

"Asuka-san? How'd you hear this so fast?" Yuka asked.

"Nevermind that! Finally! Our dearest Higurashi Kagome-san is going to be our lovely Juliet!!!" The drama club president exclaimed.

A shorter girl with round glasses and a runny nose came up behind Asuka. "But...I'm Juliet...aren't I?" She wiped her nose.

"Um...sorry Sarah-san. But you know. This is Kagome's last year. You can be the sub for Juliet." Asuka apologized.

Kagome looked with remorse at the sniffling girl who obviously had a cold of something. But the bad news probably wasn't helping the runny nose and wet eyes.

Sarah looked at Kagome and then at Asuka. She attempted to smile, "....oh...it's alright then I guess..." She departed without another word.

People started to come back into the classroom as the break came closer to its end.

"Oh I can't wait to tell the other members!" Asuka was ready to do a happy dance but contained herself and left before the bell would ring. The learning resumed. Kagome sighed. She didn't even get to eat her lunch.

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It was time for club activities. As aforementioned, Kagome was part of the drama club. She liked theater, but she didn't at the same time. Bottom line, Kagome didn't like having the spotlight on her. No, Kagome didn't plan on being an actress, but she did help the stage crew, costume designers, set designers, and well…everyone. She worked darn hard in the club. Because of her hard work and her declaration to make her acting skills public for the first time, the members had unanimously decided to give her the day off, saying there was not much work needing attention today anyway and to keep Kagome in a good mood so that she would not change her mind. Basically, her fellow drama club members had kicked her out for the day.

But only the drama club people knew Kagome was not allowed to attend to activities on this given day. So, Kagome effectively used her extracurricular as an excuse to aid in her objectives. She spotted her target.

"Hojo-kun!" she flagged a brown haired boy down. He turned surprised eyes towards the girl's voice, but soon his wide eyes smiled. The two teenagers met each other halfway. Hojo was a tall boy but he still held a boyish face and innocent aura. He was slender, cute, gentlemanly, and smart. Hojo was on most girls top ten list of most desirable guys in the school, including Kagome's list.

Usually, she was more nervous when talking to Hojo, especially because her friends were usually in accompaniment. They always made the situation more embarrassing, whether they intended to do so or not. However, today, Kagome had gathered up her courage to talk to him in order to help her cause.

"Kagome-san! How are you? You look good today." He paused and then rushed, "Not that you don't look good on other days! I mean, you always look good! I mean, not that I'm staring at you or anything. Not that you aren't pretty or anything. Uh…." His face was painted red and he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Usually he was not so nervous. He was usually rather polite and calm. Maybe that was because Higurashi Kagome had never been the first to approach him and without her more lively friends. It felt more personal, talking to Kagome alone. Even if it was just a 'how are you'.

She blushed lightly but her mind refocused on her task. "I'm doing fine, Hojo-kun. Um...I just came to ask for a favor. See, the drama club wants to do a scene rehearsal today with a prop, a shovel. Eri was supposed to bring one but she forgot. Do you think I can just borrow one from the gardening club? You are the president right?" She looked up at him through her eyelashes.

"Uh...," He really was supposed to keep gardening club property within the club and for only his club's purposes but..., "...no problem Kagome-san!"

"Really?! Great! Thanks Hojo-kun! I'll have it back to you by tomorrow. Promise!" Kagome beamed up at him.

Ten minutes later, Kagome was speed walking towards the woods carrying a shovel with her two hands. As she reached the edge of the woods, she turned her head to look around her. Good. Nobody was around. It looked a little suspicious, a young teenager carrying a big shovel going into the woods. She moved slower than she normally would through the bramble and other foliage but she did eventually get to her destination.

The dog lay exactly where she found it yesterday. She stared for a bit. Where should she make the grave? She looked at the ground. The grave should be where the dog died, but the roots prevented any digging. She picked a spot a small distance away and stuck the shovel into packed earth.

Half an hour later, sweat stuck to her skin. She lifted one hand from the shovel's handle to wipe her face and then flex her aching hand. Was the hole big enough? She wasn't sure. It looked kind of shallow. Digging was harder than she thought. Kagome glanced over at the mass of white. Deciding to move the canine, she stepped over to it. Kneeling by the body, she put her hands together in prayer and spoke in this land's native tongue.

"Kami-sama, please bring peace to this dog's soul."

Kagome reached for the animal and fleetingly brushed the guard hairs of the fur. Taking a deep breath, she let her hand fall deeper into the fur of the animal's side. Her brows furrowed and she whispered, "It's...warm?"

As soon as the last syllable left her lips, the head of the seemingly dead animal swung up and around. The ribs beneath her fingers vibrated as snarls ripped forth from the dog. Eyes widened as the alarmed girl pulled back her hand, but she was not quick enough. Kagome gave a gasping yell as sharp teeth forced through the flesh of her forearm.

She tried tugging her arm out of the gripping jaws but soon stopped that as red blood dribbled down the white fur of the dog's muzzle. The very much alive creature no longer made noise, but it did not loosen its jaws either. Her eyes darted around and her other hand somehow found the handle of her shovel.

"LET GO!!!" Two seconds later, the scoop of the shovel came down on the dog's head. A second later, Kagome held her bitten arm close to her body, got up and ran, leaving everything behind her.

As she ran, she loosened the neckerchief of her sailor fuku and used it to tie her arm. She didn't want to leave a trail of blood behind her. Kagome did not stop running until she closed the door of her home's upstairs bathroom behind her. Thank goodness her mother was out picking up Souta and her grandfather was out in the shed.

With tears in her eyes, she peeled away the wet cloth on her arm. She dropped the neckerchief in the sink and put her arm underneath the running water. Her other hand came up to cover her mouth as she got a look at her forearm. The punctured flesh was red and new blood kept on flooding the holes in her arm as the old fluid was washed down the drain. Dark bluish puple marks spotted around the wounds from teeth that did not manage to break the took deep breaths. It could be worse. If she had struggled more or if the dog decided to thrash its head around, her arm would not have so much flesh still left on it, if she still had an arm at all.

A light headedness settled in so she decided to sit next to the bathtub and put her arm over the edge of it. Hopefully, the slightly elevated position would slow the blood flow. With a clean washcloth, she applied pressure to her injury and rested her head against the cold tiles of the wall.

Maybe she blacked out for a bit. She wasn't sure, but ten minutes seemed to go by in a second. The wound had stopped bleeding. A first aid kit sat, largely unused, under the sink. She fetched it and took out a bottle of saline solution. With her bad arm still over the tub, she poured the bottle's contents over her wound. She gently cleaned away any dried blood that happened to be on the untorn portions of her skin and then covered the open wounds with gauze pads that had some antibiotic ointment on them. Using her good hand and her teeth, she managed to use surgical tape to keep the gauze in place. She then did a half decent job of wrapping clean, white bandages around her forearm to cover the gauze.

It took a while, but she tidied up the bathroom, and now lay on her bed in her darkened bedroom. It was evening now and she was just completely exhausted. She lay on her side, her injured arm resting on top of a small pillow underneath the cover of her comforter. Her mother knocked and entered.

"Kagome-chan, dinner's ready. Why is it so dark in here?"

"I'm not feeling so well Okaa-san. I just want to sleep."

"Hmm...?" The mother approached Kagome and put a hand on both their foreheads. Nervous, Kagome's fingers twitched underneath the covers. Her mother had enough to worry about. Kagome didn't want her to worry more. "You do feel a little warm. Alright, honey. Just rest for a while."

The older woman left the room, and Kagome sighed, falling asleep after being calmed by her mother's voice.

--------

The next day in the early morning when the dew had yet to evaporate from the grass, Kagome found herself hiding behind a large tree not too far away from the spot where all her misfortune took place. She scanned around the area and then quickly moved behind another tree, one a bit closer to the spot. Again, she darted towards another tree. Then a bush, a rock, another bush, and another tree. She watched the mass of white by the tree trunk that lay nearly motionless except for the rise and fall of its chest. About a meter away from the viscous dog was the abandoned shovel. A few more meters away was her backpack. Everything was not where she had left it yesterday. Her backpack was open, its contents littering the ground. Yesterday's uneaten bento was now eaten it seemed. The box was broken open and nothing was left inside it except a leaf or two of vegetables and some grains of white rice.

What normal, sane person would come back to this spot? Nobody, so Kagome must not have been normal. She would have sighed at herself if she didn't fear making noise. Yesterday, she promised she would return the gardening club's shovel. She'd have a lot of explaining to do if she didn't bring it back. Plus, she couldn't very well replace her backpack and all the textbooks in it without raising questions.

On all fours now (well, threes since one arm was kind of being favored over the other), she crept closer to her backpack. Afer arriving at it without incident, she moved all the necessary items into her bag and shouldered it. She crept again. This time towards the shovel and incidentedly towards the resting animal. Screw the bento box.

Chocolate eyes lit up in triumph as her hand fell on the wooden handle of the shovel. She sat up and lifted the shovel with her. A growl. 'Oh darn...,' ran through her mind.

Her eyes moved from the shovel to the growling dog. Sweet chocolate was no match for the molten gold that fixated on Kagome. When had it gotten up? The canine was on all fours in a slightly crouched position, still standing taller than Kagome's sitting up form. Its tail stood straight out, parallel to the ground and its ears were pulled back. Kagome moved backwards a little, but the dog growled louder, baring those white fangs that so easily cut into her flesh. All the frightened girl could do was stare. Those gold yellow eyes were frightening. Thank Kami they weren't looking directly into her eyes. Those eyes narrowed at the shovel? She slowly put down the gardening tool and pulled away her hand. The growls didn't cease and now those eyes trapped hers. Oh great. That didn't help at all. She tried moving away again. The beast lifted its black lips to gleam those teeth at her. Her eyes moved towards those fangs for a split second. The image of those sharp, white fangs pierced through her brain and made her utter one word.

"Kiba."

It was a vocabulary word that her grandfather had taught her. The Japanese word for "fang" was "Kiba", and this dog certainly had some...impressive fangs.

Hearing the word, the dog stopped growling and its ears perked. It didn't look much less intimidating though, especially with the dried blood on its maw and side. The balls of her feet that Kagome had been sitting on the whole time could handle no more and Kagome fell back onto her bottom.

The staring match began.


End file.
